In Jan., 1989, the owner of the present invention put into operation a new elevated roadway over a self-propelled continuous haulage unit (a flexible continuous tram or "FCT" unit) for movement of trams over the FCT to transport personnel and equipment between the head end and the tail end of the FCT. The roadway performed satisfactorily as far as providing the necessary track for the trams was concerned, but it proved to be quite difficult to center back up after each movement of the haulage unit. It also proved to have insufficient durability to sustain the repeated moves and recenterings, which involved dragging it about 80 feet approximately every three days or so and then realigning it. The roadway was 480 feet in length, consisting of 48 units, each 10 feet long. It rapidly deteriorated to a point of near destruction of all 48 units.
The task of designing the roadway to integrate with the cars, belt and cat track of the FCT unit, to leave the center region above the FCT belt completely clear of framing so as to facilitate transport of mined material on the belt and to keep the track as low as possible were formidable, as were the problems of improving the design.